Category: Actualité

Sector 6, a stage set to rival that of Bang Hai Palace, has been created for Boomtown2016. The industrial masterpiece will act as the official base of the Revolution, hosting astrong line‐up of bass heavy spectacles.As a long time master of bass, Roni Size is a perfect fit for this new project. After a hugeyear of live touring with his Reprazent band, he has returned to the decks with partner incrime, DJ Krust after 12 years.These underground legends will be delivering a show drawn from the roots of Jungle & DnB‐ old classics, unreleased studio cuts and originals remastered, with original Full Cyclefrontman, Dynamite MC.

Roni Size Interview

You had a massive year in 2015, can you tell me a bit about what you’ve been up to?
Well I think over the last three or four years I’ve really been pushing to get myself back
into that premier league table. We’ve got a release coming out on the 10th June on Full
Cycle and it’s been a really interesting moving forward because the audience and the
technology and the way everything is done has changed so much.
For the generation who know nothing about what Full Cycle, Reprazent and Roni Size is all
about, it would be good if they can maybe go and get to know a bit of history and look at
exactly what we’ve contributed to the scene over the years and start to engage in what
we’re doing moving forward.Has the evolution in technology changed the way that you make music?
Nah. At the end of the day, musically, writing comes from the heart and the technology is
something which I embrace. I think, really, it’s more about trying to reposition yourself as
an artist.
Having a whole generation of 16~20 year olds who came into the dance music/drum and
bass scene in the late 2000s… They’ve only been in it for the last 10 years. So it’s a
re~education and it’s a challenge that we’ll meet head on.Boomtown is known for showcasing a range of genres, especially underground bassmusic. You’ve been pretty instrumental in the growth and the reach of live drum andbass, what made you want to evolve that part of the sound?
I think when you perform as a live musician, you have the stage to yourself. You can put
up a live drummer, bass player… You can put a really dynamic show together which can
evolve and you can play on some major stages around the world.
The fact is that there are a lot of bands out there who have a live show, but they’re not
really live bands. Back in the day, we embraced trying to be 100% live band and now we’re
a live show! We want to go out there and show people that we don’t just stand behind two
sets of turntables and “put your hands in the air”… There’s a lot of substance to what we
do.What can the Boomtown residents expect from your show?
Well it’s a Full Cycle takeover so we’re going to be playing stuff from Full Cycle which is
mine and Krusts’ record label.
We just recently started it back up and are on our second release of this new venture. The
first part of the journey started back in 1993 and then we took a step back in about 2008
because we had other work commitments. Now, in 2015/16, the label is starting to reach
all the areas of drum and bass.
We’re going to come to Boomtown and spread the name so people know that Full Cycle is
a label they should get involved with. It’s going to be showcasing some new artists and
playing some classics which have made it what it is today.The Bristol Sound is something that’s recognised worldwide, what do you think it isabout it that appeals to such a wide range of people?
Well drum and bass and jungle have been around for a good two decades now, so it’s not a
new music. There are a few new styles coming through but they’re all based around drum
and bass and jungle.
The Bristol sound, Full Cycle sound, is something which incorporates its’ own flavour from
the city. That is hip hop and reggae culture; soundsystem culture and that’s what people
have tapped into.
They’ve tapped into basslines and ragga vocals and it’s made it popular, people want to
replicate that sound. You’ll buy a brand new plug in and you’ll go to the lists and you’ll
see Bristol Bass or Bristol Drums or Bristol Sounds (laughs).
You can go through and see how it’s made an impact, not just through selling records but
through the Bristol sound itself.Boomtown’s known for being an immersive, theatrical and engaging experience thatleaves punters with lasting memories. What are you looking forward to most?
It’ll be my first so I’m a Boomtown virgin! I’ve heard a lot about it though. Obviously
there’s going to be a Full Cycle takeover so I’m looking forward to that and I’ve heard it’s
a great party.
I like the fact that it’s my first year at Boomtown, I’m looking forward to being pleasantly

BT) So first of all, thank you so much for taking the time to do this! What brought you and Boomtown together?

K) Mine and the label’s history with Boomtown goes back to last year. I played alongside two other acts from the label Foreign Concept and Enei as Critical Sound System, which is label back to back special and played on

the Bassline circus stage and it was incredible and then we were asked do something back bigger and better at this year’s one.

BT) What made you want to come back to Boomtown?

K) Well I was very lucky to play a lot of festivals last year and it was hands down one of the best ones we played, it was the best one we played in the UK, it was an amazing atmosphere. There’s really an element of, if you play underground music and you go to festivals you can sometimes find yourself getting a bit lost because being underground, it’s niche and there’s only a certain amount of people how know what you do and who you are and it was definitely a crowd who new who we were and knew our music. I think we played to 4,000 people over 2 hours and we could take the set wherever we wanted to take it. Really deep stuff that you might not get away with at other festivals, and it was really good fun. We played from 4~6am which can be the best time or a really hard time to play and it worked out really well.

BT) Last year you played at the Bassline Circus and this year you’re playing at Bang Hai but you’ve been extended from a 4 hour takeover to a whole day takeover. How are you feeling about that?

K) Yeah it’s amazing! I mean I saw what the stage looked like last year and thought… I want to play on that (laughs) and then we get to asked to do it and thought, brilliant! And then we got to play the whole stage on the Saturday… Wow. It’s a real honour, it’s really exciting, all the guys are really hyped to be playing as well because they’ve seen all the videos of what it’s like and the Noisia guys played on there last year. We all know them and they said how good it was , so yeah it’s a big deal! There’s going to be a lot of Instagram pictures I’m sure!

BT) You mentioned Critical artists are excited to be playing; what can you tell me about who’s going to be there and what can be expected at the takeover?

K) Well I suppose it’s going to go across who’s playing starting from Klax and Hyroglifics who are two acts who are fairly new to the label. They will be playing B2B for the first chunk of the night and they play a combination of half time hip hop and grime influenced D&B and then the more traditional D&B. An exciting fusion of new sounds.

And then we’ve got Foreign Concept who’s had a few releases on the label now and he makes more straight forward rolling stuff, goes a bit deeper and a great DJ.

We’ve got Ivy Lab and Sam Binga with Redders MCing who have a different take on the D&B format. They predominantly play half time hip hop influenced stuff. Quite a lot of vocals so that should be good and then it’s me…and I’m rubbish (laughs). I just play a bit of everything from the label because it’s my label.

And then taking it into the later stages of the night we have Enei, Emperor and Mefjus who will play a little bit harder than the rest of us. They’ll play a more tech influenced side of things but across the board .

Each of the acts from the label brings something exciting and different, their own interpretation of the music. That’s what i love, being able to do events, especially with a takeover like this, where we can programme a whole night with a curvature of the music that makes sense that is made up of purely label acts. Also having the extra times means we get to bring the whole family and everyone get’s a chance to play such a special event.

BT) How is it different playing a festival and playing a night?

K) The main difference is normally we don’t do a whole takeover. It’ll

be a B2B or a solo set. There can definitely be different pressures when playing a festival, not knowing what to play or wether what you play is going to work well with the crowd but i think theres a balance to be struck. Never play anything you don’t like but also remember there’s a fine line between trying to educate people and also remembering that people are there to have fun. Thats what i think anyway! Festivals are really good places to play in front of people that have never heard you before but if you then go and play a ‘festival set’ because that’s what you think you should play then then you are in danger of creating a false illusion of what you are as a DJ.

Coming from the underground scene, you don’t always get a look in at festivals for the most part and that’s why Boomtown is really good because it pretty much focuses on, like a festival like Outlook, on the underground side of things. .

BT) Boomtown’s known for being quite immersive and theatrical and engaging, so what is your most memorable festival experience and why?

K) One of my favourites was when I played Exit festival last year, did the main stage with Mefjus and Enei. We did 4-6am, the last set of the festival. That was really something, a real honour. From a musical point, I saw Arcade Fire at Reading Festival in 02/03 in the NME tent when when they released their first record, Funeral. It was like a rave, it was incredible.